News from Northern Cyprus | Seasonal workers march against slavery

Seasonal workers in Güzelyurt who paid to come to Northern Cyprus to pick fruit marched to Güzelyurt police station after they were not paid and their passports were taken away, Yeniduzen reports. During the march, the workers told Gadara Media: “No money, no work, no passports – we walk to the police”. The fruit pickers said their passports had been confiscated and demanded the payment they were owed by Cypruvex. About 50 workers joined the march, saying they wanted their money and passports back so they could return to their home countries.

CTP Güzelyurt District Chairman Çağlar Gulamkadir spoke about the workers’ demands and mentioned that there were several claims, including that the workers had been cheated and not even paid the minimum wage. The workers said that they had paid €8,000 each to intermediaries to come to Northern Cyprus and that Cypruvex had taken them there with promises of work.

They also complained about poor living conditions. The workers said they were willing to go back to their country if they were given back the €8,000 they had each been paid, but they were worried about how they would return home if they only got two or three months’ wages, since they were already in debt.

In a separate article, Yeniduzen reported that the Independence Road Güzelyurt Organisation visited the Cypruvex workers on site to observe their conditions and issued a press release. According to the Independence Road statement, regional manager Celal Özkızan pointed out that the workers are forced to live in slavery-like conditions and urged the authorities to take immediate action. Özkızan stressed that the workers are constantly threatened and are unable to voice their concerns, and called on the Ministry of Labour to intervene.

The statement condemned the Chamber of Commerce, the government and “mafia-like agencies operating under the guise of consultancy“for their role in this situation, and described them as”companies involved in human trafficking and exploitation”The statement concluded with the words: “We have witnessed the human tragedy faced by the Cypruvex workers, who have been forced to live in slave-like conditions for quite some time.”.

This problem seems to have been around for a while. In December 2019, Yeniduzen published an article about the miserable living conditions of seasonal workers.

Yeniduzen